ooc: Others, feel free to join in on the training. I can only do so much.

Phoenix stood in the training arena, his hands folded behind his back in a professional manner. Today, he wore a white button-down, dark pants and a pair of dress shoes. The outfit looked a bit out of place in the arena, it's high stone walls scratched and broken from the many battles that had taken place here. The grass was green as ever, with dark scars from burns and holes from brutal attacks.

A lone tree stood behind Phoenix a ways back, and his student stood in front of him. "Well then," the immortal yawned, running his hand through his short hair. "Out of your characters, I will not allow you to use Kevin or Matthew. They both lack a sense of reality, you see. Victoria also needs work, but I will permit you to use her if you wish. Well, get going!"

The humanoid form of energy in front of him began to change shape, forming a physical body. Phoenix raised his eyebrows in anticipation, waiting to see who Vince would use for his training.

The figure's appearance formed into a tall lanky man. "Then I'll use Joe," The figure was now fully formed. A male with thinning hair wearing a tight sports jacket, and dark sneakers. He scanned the arena around him, and then his opponent. Joe was a good three inches shorter than Phoenix but, size wouldn't play a large role in this. A breeze swept into the arena and dust rose into the air. Joe had a good feeling as he grabbed the trench knives from his jacket. "Shall we?"

"You're an eager one. I don't get to give a speech?" Phoenix seemed frustrated by his opponent's lack of patience, but stepped back several feet and looked at Joe, his hands at his side. "Ready, I suppose. Physical combat only. Let's see what you can do with no magic."

"Well I've always been an eager beaver. Ready or not." Joe ran at his opponent, his fists clentched at his sides. Joe grew close enough to attack, he leapt into the air and sent his right foot to Phoenix's left arm.

Phoenix smiled lightly and easily stepped to the side. He brought both of his hands up and grabbed at Joe's ankle. The kick had left too many open spots for defense and avoidance. moving away from the grab was unlikely with Joe in the air, and his foot had momentum in the direction of the kick.

Phoenix would swing down Joe by his leg in the direction Joe was flying, adding speed to slam him into the ground.

"You left too many hole in your attack. Every attack has a weakness to it. You must be careful what it is that you do."

"Give me a bit of credit." Joe said as he brought the leg up to his chest avoiding Phoenix's grab. He hit the ground and rolled into a stance. He had closed a lot of ground between himself and his opponent. Joe replaced the knives in his jacket's inside pockets. He readied himself by placing both fists before himself.

"Okay, first lesson," Phoenix said, facing his opponent once more. "When you attack, think of the possible outcomes. With your kick, I could have been hit if I had not moved. Your opponent will always move, unless planning a counter attack. Jumping into the air is something that some fighters will not do. This puts you at a huge disadvantage. You are unable to maneuver, and therefore, usually unable to defend yourself."

Phoenix paused for a moment, mulling over his thoughts. "There were multiple counter attacks I could have used against your kick just now. If I had my sword out, you would be missing a limb or two right now. Leaving yourself exposed will get you killed. Another thing that will get you killed is not thoroughly explaining your actions. Most attacks do not need much description, but be sure to write out your actions and give your opponent a visual. It is unfair to your opponent otherwise."

"Now, attack me again. In this session, no physical harm will last, so do not hold back."

Joe ran at Phoenix, he threw his right fist at Phoenix's cheek, and he also sent his left foot towards Phoenix's right side. If Phoeni'x blocked either or both attacks he would leave himself open to a direct attack.

Phoenix blocked neither, however. Dodging was more his style. He ducked and slid to to his left, under the punch. The kick would do nothing, however, except provide Phoenix with an open opportunity at Joe's other leg. With Joe standing on one leg, his chances of dodging a kick to the side of his knee were improbable. The blow would sprain the joint in an instant, if not break it.

Joe saw the blow going at his knee, he acted quickly. There was no way to dodge the attack but he could lessen the impact. He quickly allowed his leg to drop. Phoenix's kick landed but not in the place where he had expected. His foot was now in Joe's thigh. He acted quickly by reaching for Phoenix's foot. the grab would be almost impossible to avoid and if he did grab Joe would lift Phoenix's foot and send a kick to the back of Phoenix's knee.

Joe successfully grabbed Phoenix's leg, but his plan did not work out so well.

Instead of simply allowing Jo to pull up on his leg, he flipped over onto his chest and pushed up, 'jumping' with his arms to compensate for the height of his leg being lifted. While he did this, he continued to twist, sending his other leg towards the head of Joe.

As Joe had dropped to the ground, there was no plausible way for him to send a kick to the now-empty area where Phoenix's leg would be. Since he had, the man was extremely off balance with a kick mere inches from his face.

Joe now in a half kneeling position clasped down on Phoenix's foot, he quickly moved it into the path of Phoenix's oncoming kick. So Phoenix had two choices he could stop his original kick or he could kick himself. Joe rotated his shoulders and threw his opponent away from him.

The way Phoenix had sent the kick towards his opponent, he was using the grabbed leg as the center of his spin. By Joe moving it upwards, towards the kick, all it did was raise the height of the kick.

Either way, it did not matter after Joe threw his away. Phoenix rolled to his feet quickly, his teeth showing in a congratulatory grin. "Well, you didn't manage to hit me, but you are defending properly. Not bad, but be careful."

Phoenix slid his feet in and stood straight again, leaving his fighting stance.

"Now, Vince. Instead of ruthlessly fighting, I am here to train you. In a dirty shirt, at that," Phoenix muttered the last sentence in a disappointed tone. "Before we move on to magical attacks, I want you to tell me what your strategy is. How does this character, Joe, fight. Is he a close quarters fighter, or a ranged attacker. Does he lean more towards the offensive scale, or the defensive? Knowing this about your character will greatly improve how you manipulate them during a battle."

Joe stood and looked at his jacket. It was also dirty. "I am a peculiar fighter. I worry about my defense first, when I have established a good defense I begin my offense. I rely heavily on my magic to do so. So when put in a hand to hand fight I am not in my element."

"So you rely upon your powers? A good fighter should be able to commit to hand-to-hand if need be. The circumstances arise more than a few times in a fight, especially with a close ranged fighter, like myself."

Phoenix gestured towards the tree, now on his left, with an open hand. "Since you rely so heavily upon your magic, I would like you to attack this tree using all of your elements. Use each element only once, and by itself. Do not worry about the tree--it will heal itself after every attack. As for post time, consider it abolished with your next post. Take as much time as needed to use all of your elements and any other attacks."

Joe readied himself and focused his energy. First he lifted two spiked pillars of earth out of the ground. he then sent the spikes at the tree. As they neared the tree, they twisted around each other and finally piereced the trunk. Joe then dropped to his knee and mimed himself holding a bow and arrow, soon the shape of an arrow formed and he pulled back and released the arrow. It sailed toward the tree. Then Joe removed his twin pistols from his jacket and fired them at the tree. Using his control over the air he pushed the bullets into a straight horizontal line, then he removed his trench knives, charging them with air he ran at the tree. Underneath him the earth seemed to move with him, he was almost skating on the surface of the ground. He was moving with elegance and speed, nearing the tree he slashed. His knives, charged with his air energy, sliced through the trunk of the tree.

With many creaks and groans of protest, the tree slowly returned to its former state.

"Interesting," Phoenix stood in thought for a moment before continuing. "Do you take a liking to the bow? Would it not be easier to do this?"

With a gesture of his hand, the character Samuel appeared next to Phoenix, his dark clothing a contrast to Phoenix's white shirt. He lifted a single hand at the tree and shot a condensed form of from it. When it hit the tree, it fanned out, severing the trunk as though a sword had cut through butter. Before the tee could fall, it mended itself with more groans.

"Or, of course, simply manipulate the air around the tree alone, saving time," Phoenix said, unnerved by the power displayed. With another movement from his hand, Samuel had disappeared again. "Which brings me to my next lesson. Attacks are not used so narrowly. A single power can lead to extraordinary things.

"For example, I have the power to summon and control Holy Fire and heat. These powers have lead me to control over the lesser fire of mortals. However, I cannot summon this lesser fire. I can, however, create it. In my journeys, I have also discovered how to manipulate energy. I cannot control it, but instead can transfer all of the energy into heat, or fire. For example."

Phoenix stooped down to the ground and picked up a rock. With astounding speed, he threw it towards Joe with power enough to pierce the man's skin. Just before it hit, however, Phoenix tuned all of the kinetic energy the rock had into flame. The small orb of flame hovered in spot while the rock fell harmlessly to the ground.

"Now," Phoenix let the flame go out as he continued. "That is not all. Fire, of course, is heat. Heat is energy, as I just explained. But what else does energy create?"

Before Joe could answer, the immortal once more raised his hand, palm up. He summoned the golden Holy Fire. It slowly flickered, growing brighter and brighter until a ball of light hovered in the hand of Phoenix.

"Light," he answered. Without a movement, the ball flew towards the tree with astounding speed, shattering the entire plant in a large explosion. A sprout slowly began to form from the scattered pieces of wood until a giant tree stood in their wake, its huge canopy casting a large shadow over the training area.

"Where I am going with this is manipulation. What else can you do with your powers besides their basic functions. This is key to becoming a worthwhile fighter. Now, I would like you to find a way to manipulate any of your various elements. Be sure to describe, Vince. I would like to know what is going on inside that head of Joe's. Let us feel the struggle he is going through to accomplish this."

Joe cracked his knuckles as he took in what his mentor was saying. Manipulating the elements had become second nature to him. He focused as he gathered up a sheet of earth around himself. The soil and rock covered him and formed a large boulder. Safe, he was feeling safety. This technique would take time to break down but also it wasn't just for defense. Joe used his manipulation of earth to sense what was around him. Then using his control over the air Joe ventilated the inside of the boulder with constant fresh air but he also used the wind to thrust the boulder at the tree. As he was nearing the old scarred trunk he brought up the earth around the tree to keep it from moving with the attack. He also used this technique to keep his opponents from moving when he attacks. As the boulder was nearing the tree Joe almost phased out of the back of the stone. It collided with the tree and then Joe clentched his fist. Success, the boulder then burst into pieces scattering small rock shrapnel, whipping in every direction. Joe stopped the bits of rock from hitting himself and Phoenix by raising a wall of air before them both. Then as the dust cleared Joe took the rocks surrounding the base of the scarred and cracked tree trunk and sent spike piercing the ancient wood.

"Hmm. Already getting the hang of combination attacks, huh? Not what I had in mind, but a great attack. I suppose there is not much you can change with air and earth, but I am amazed at how you handle these two opposites with such power," Phoenix responded as the dust settled. His left eyebrow was arched high in amazement. An elementalist with great promise.

"I will not bother to teach you any more combination attacks, but using your elements together is a strong technique. However, such things take time and energy. That attack would take at least two posts to complete. Passing down the words of a certain Master of Energy, an unspoken rule in the art of simbattling is that each post lasts approximately two seconds. Circumstance may change this time limit, but not by much."

Phoenix then reached out his hand, Holy Fire erupting and taking the shape of a sword with a golden blade. Wings then erupted from the immortal's back, and he took flight. "Now lets see how you defend against ranged attacks. I won't be charging," he winked.

Holy Fire erupted forth in a large fireball, breaking apart into a barrage of smaller orbs. As they flew towards Joe, ten of the orbs turned into a resilient light. They raced through the air faster than the other obs in an attempt to distract him from the fire. At the same time, Phoenix spewed ash from pores, that floated around him lazily.

"Think quick. The light will break any defense you put up if it hits."

Joe was breathing heavy, that last attack took a bit of enery. Joe raised his hands towards Phoenix's Holy Fire, "Here's a bit of manipulation, fire needs oxygen to survive. Even holy fire!" With that Joe took a deep heavy breath in. One by one the small orbs of light faded into nothingness. All that remained were the ten vibrant orbs soaring towards him. Joe then lifted a dome of earth around himself. Using his contact with the ground to see through his barrier Joe blasted a massive amount of small rocks towards Phoenix and his remaining orbs. As the projectiles raced towards Phoenix, Joe lowered himself into the ground of the stadium.